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Tomahawk
Tomahawk (later abbreviated to TMHWK), was a heavyweight robot which competed in Series 7 and Series 9 of Robot Wars under two different teams, also representing the Netherlands in Robot Wars: World Series, part of Series 10. In Series 7, Tomahawk was eliminated in the first round after becoming immobilised by IG-88, before being smashed open by an ocean buoy, while Sabretooth immobilised TMHWK with similar speed in Series 9. TMHWK proved more durable in the World Series, but still lost its head-to-head battle to Terrorhurtz. Versions of Tomahawk Tomahawk Tomahawk was originally a tracked, box wedge-shaped robot with a low profile, making it one of the most recent robots to use tracks as locomotion. Its weapon was a double-headed pneumatic axe modelled on the Native American axe, with a bladed head on one end and a spiked one on the other. The axe was said to double as a flipper and had fast self-righting capabilities. Tomahawk itself was powered by a 750w electric motor, weighed 97kg and was armoured in aluminium and polycarbonate, measuring 0.51m x 1.12m x 0.76m in diameter. However, the robot was untested, and did not prove durable during its only appearance in the original Robot Wars. TMHWK TMHWK substituted its former tracked design in favour of a two-wheel drive system, while featuring a more powerful axe with a near-identical arm and double head configuration. Dependent on TMHWK's opponent, the team can reverse the direction of TMHWK's axe head, which by default strikes using the bladed end, to choose the most effective impact. The Ardunois controllers within TMHWK offer the team four different types of hit they can administer to their victims to conserve carbon dioxide. The robot was now painted in a striking purple, grey and orange colour scheme, and shortly before their first battle in Series 9, the team added googly eyes and pink eyelashes to the bladed axe, adding a feminine touch. TMHWK featured two optional guiding wedges at the front of the robot, added specifically for Series 9. TMHWK's armour now consisted of 3.2mm HARDOX and 15mm HDPE, making it more durable than the original Tomahawk, although its wheels were exposed from the top and it still suffered from reliability issues found at live events, and ultimately the televised series. For its appearance in Robot Wars: World Series, TMHWK's previously black front bumper used the same purple and orange colours as the rest of the robot's body, and the robot gained a set of orange 'leaves' around the sides and front, which were attached to the robot's top panels using wires. These extra additions were used in its Head-to-Head against Terrorhurtz, although it is unclear as to whether they were intended to be used as an entanglement device. During Robot Wars: World Series, John Reid of Team Hurtz claimed that TMHWK's axe arm was a modified version of one he used for an older version of his own machine, Terrorhurtz. He claims that he had given it to Tomahawk's original owner, Paul Kendrick, after its appearance in Robot Wars, although Kendrick claims that Tomahawk's axe arm was of his own creation throughout the time in his possession. Etymology The robot's name came from the Tomahawk, a type of hatchet-like axe known for its origin and use by Native Americans. Notably, the name Tomahawk was erroneously spelled as "Tomohawk" on its statistics board in Series 7, but this was an editing error, and the robot officially used the Tomahawk spelling. In the reboot series, the name TMHWK was used to differentiate the machine from its original incarnation, removing all vowels from the original name, but it was still pronounced as "Tomahawk". The Team Team Lazerus Tomahawk was entered into Series 7 by Paul Kendrick, builder and team captain. He was to be joined by his wife, but she was heavily pregnant during filming of Series 7, so Kendrick asked his friend, and captain of the Cold Fusion team, Stuart Barnwell, to take her place in the team. Barnwell initially agreed to operate Tomahawk's axe, but ended up driving it instead, as he had previous experience driving the robot at live events. As captain of the Cold Fusion Team, Barnwell also drove Pussycat in Series 7, and Kitty in the accompanying Featherweight Championship, later competing with Dantomkia and Push to Exit as part of Team S.Tek. Team Dutch Robot Girls ]] Team Dutch Robot Girls, as their name suggests, is comprised of four women from the Netherlands. They were captained by Caroline van der Meer (natively Carlijn) in Series 9, who had previously competed in an all-female team in Series 2 of Dutch Robot Wars with IDO. Caroline van der Meer has competed on the live events circuit with various lighter robots, including the first Dutch featherweight (see Outside Robot Wars) and is TMHWK's driver. Annita van der Meer had originally intended to enter Dutch Robot Wars: Series 1 alongside her husband Marien, as the two had collaborated to build Scraptosaur, although she could not attend filming. Annita is a bachelor in mechanical engineering, and has also built various antweight robots. As Caroline van der Meer and Carla van den Broek could not appear in Robot Wars: World Series due to their ongoing pregnancies, Annita van der Meer became the team captain and driver of TMHWK during Robot Wars: World Series. Esther Tissing and Carla van den Broek were both competitors on the live circuit, and were invited to join the team by the van der Meers. The all-female team received support from Professor Noel Sharkey via Twitterhttps://twitter.com/NoelSharkey/status/805429379190947840, who is keen to encourage women to become engineers. Qualification Tomahawk initially attempted to enter Series 6 under the name Lazerus. At the qualifiers, Lazerus fought C.V., G-Man and Inshredable, with Inshredable winning the battle despite Lazerus surviving to the end of the battle. Lazerus was selected as a reserve, but did not get a chance to compete in Series 6. Lazerus was armed with a spiked axe, which the team replaced with a heavier, bladed axe when they modified it into Tomahawk, which successfully qualified for Series 7. TMHWK, under new ownership of Marien van der Meer, also applied to participate in Series 8 of the rebooted Robot Wars, but was not selected to compete. For Series 9, Marien van der Meer entrusted TMHWK to his wife's team, Team Dutch Robot Girls, who successfully qualified with the machine. According to the Robot Wars website, Team Dutch Robot Girls submitted their application video to the theme of Run the World (Girls) by Beyoncé. Although TMHWK did not appear in the main competition of Series 10, it instead qualified for the World Series as one of two Dutch representatives. Robot History Series 7 Tomahawk competed in Heat C, fighting IG-88, The Stag and Scorpion in its first-round battle. In order to withstand blows from the spinning weapons of IG-88 and Scorpion, the team bolted on extra armour panels to Tomahawk's sides in an attempt to give it further protection. In the battle itself, it immediately charged into Scorpion and The Stag, but missed its first axe blow on the latter, and was hit from the sides and rear a few times by IG-88. These attacks buffeted and immobilised Tomahawk, which fired its axe in an attempt to show signs of mobility. IG-88 briefly nudged Tomahawk before Tomahawk axed Scorpion, getting its axe embedded through one of the latter's wheels. Tomahawk was then pushed back across the arena by Scorpion and The Stag, before Scorpion and Cassius Chrome shoved it towards a CPZ. Refbot counted Tomahawk out as The Stag drove itself into the pit, before Cassius Chrome punched its sides and pushed it into Sergeant Bash and onto the Drop Zone. There, an ocean buoy was dropped onto Tomahawk, which dislodged one of its top panels and buckled its chassis as it bounced. As a result, Tomahawk was eliminated from the Seventh Wars, along with The Stag. Series 9 Under the captaincy of Team Dutch Robot Girls, TMHWK competed in Heat 1, fighting Sabretooth, Aftershock and Crank-E in its Group Battle. It immediately charged towards Crank-E as the latter approached Aftershock, forcing Crank-E into Aftershock's flywheel and sending it flying through the air. As Aftershock continued attacking Crank-E, TMHWK momentarily drove up the side of Aftershock's wedge, before ramming Sabretooth head-on. The impact spun and immobilised TMHWK instantly, allowing Sabretooth to push TMHWK from the side and churn into one of its side panels with its drum. TMHWK, despite its lack of drive, was still able to fire its axe, lifting it off the floor and allowing Sabretooth to get underneath and push it more freely. Another hit from Sabretooth ripped TMHWK's HDPE side panel off completely, before Sabretooth pushed TMHWK into Shunt and left it over the arena spikes, tearing one of its wedges off in the process. TMHWK was flipped over by one of the spikes and left unable to self-right, with both it and Crank-E being counted out and eliminated from Series 9 as a result. Series 10 Although it did not appear in the main competition, TMHWK instead represented the Netherlands during Robot Wars: World Series, filmed and broadcast at the end of Series 10. It was partnered with Belgian entry and fellow Series 9 returnee Cobra, ahead of their Tag Team battle against the British representatives Apollo and Gabriel 2. With Cobra and Apollo fighting each other first, TMHWK initially remained out of the action as it waited in its corner. This was until Apollo threw Cobra against the Arena Tyre mount, which TMHWK responded by driving towards and attempting to axe Apollo. It missed, ending up in the clutches of Dead Metal as it fired its axe again and rolled into the opposite CPZ. Bumping into the Arena Tyre, it activated the Fog of War, dodging an approaching Gabriel 2 before unsuccessfully attempting to axe the latter numerous times. In doing so, TMHWK exposed its axe arm and top armour to several blows from Gabriel 2 – it continued to spin around as Gabriel 2 bumped it towards and over the Flame Pit. TMHWK fired its axe after another sword blow from Gabriel 2, causing both competitor’s weapons to lock together as they spun round over the Flame Pit. In doing so, TMHWK caused Gabriel 2 to lose balance as it tried to force its axe down, the competitors quickly separating before Gabriel 2 slammed down on TMHWK again. TMHWK and Gabriel 2 eventually returned to their corners as Apollo and Cobra resumed their duel. However, it was later tagged by Cobra again, albeit still unable to land an axe blow on Gabriel 2’s wheels, and sustained a few more hits from the British axlebot before the latter drove over it as all four competitors converged. A split-second later, TMHWK was flipped into the air by Apollo, but landed back on its wheels, and sat in the centre of the arena before Gabriel 2 approached and hit it a few more times. TMHWK finally landed a hit on Gabriel 2’s body as the two competitors exchanged blows; it momentarily stopped moving with seconds to go, only to suddenly reverse itself into the open pit. The battle ultimately went to a Judges’ decision, which went against the Rest of the World team, leaving them with no points. In the Head-to-Head round, TMHWK faced fellow axe-wielding robot and UK representative Terrorhurtz, a competitor whose original axe arm was repurposed for TMHWK's own weapon. For this battle, it was equipped with ‘leaves’ attached to its top armour, while Annita van der Meer and Rest of the World team captain Peter Redmond agreed to target the exposed spaces between Terrorhurtz's axe and top panels. In the opening seconds, TMHWK turned away from an approaching Terrorhurtz, spinning around as the Team Hurtz machine pushed it into Sir Killalot. It escaped, bumping into the nearest entry gate, constantly dodging Terrorhurtz and Matilda as the latter shepherded it into her CPZ and sustained a blow from her flywheel. TMHWK quickly reversed into the Arena Tyre, activating the pit, but was pinned against the Arena Tyre mount by Sir Killalot and Terrorhurtz, allowing the latter to strike its top panel. It escaped, reversing over the Flame Pit, but bumped into Terrorhurtz again and sustained more damage to its armour and axe from the Team UK entry. TMHWK repeatedly missed with its own axe, which began to bend following another succession of blows from Terrorhurtz. It was eventually pushed over the spark jets and into Matilda’s CPZ again, Terrorhurtz axing its armour once again in the process. This time, TMHWK retaliated with an axe blow of its own, but was flipped violently by Matilda’s tusks – the flip being sufficient enough to snap TMHWK’s axe arm in half as it landed back on its wheels. Weaponless, TMHWK was shepherded towards the open pit by Terrorhurtz, sustaining another blow to the remains of its axe arm before eventually getting pushed over the edge. It remained there for several seconds before a final axe blow from Terrorhurtz caused it to fall in. Although the Rest of the World team scored no points once again and would ultimately lose the competition to Team UK, the Dutch Robot Girls were gracious in defeat. In The Pits, Annita van der Meer shook hands with John Reid before handing back the axe arm as a souvenir. Results |} |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 4 Series Record Tomohawk_site.jpg|Tomahawk in the pits, note the website address Tornadoscorpian and lazarus.jpg|Tomahawk as Lazerus fighting Tornado and Spirit Of Scorpion at the Robot Roadshow in 2002 TomohawkNOTOP.jpg|Tomahawk without its top at a live event Tomohawk.png|Tomahawk shortly after Robot Wars Tomohawk 2012.jpg|Tomahawk being restored in 2012 Tomohawk Maidstone 2012.jpg|TMHWK at Maidstone in 2012 Tmhwk_enter_the_arena_s9.png|Dutch Robot Girls entering the arena in Series 9 Tmhwk_heroshot_s9.png|TMHWK enters the arena in Series 9 P05rm4n7.jpg|Team Dutch Robot Girls among Team Rest of the World NOTES: *''Stuart Barnwell entered Extreme 2 with Pussycat and Katnip, entered Series 7 with Pussycat and Kitty, Series 8 with Dantomkia, and Series 9 with Push to Exit.'' *''Marien van der Meer entered both series of Dutch Robot Wars, and UK Series 7, with Scraptosaur.'' *''Caroline van der Meer entered Dutch Series 2 with IDO.'' Outside Robot Wars Tomahawk continued to fight in certain live events after Robot Wars entered its hiatus, undergoing several rebuilds. It found a good degree of success at the Roaming Robots event in Denbigh 2005 where it managed to immobilise Tornado and heavily damage Kan-Opener in a 3-way melee. It was also seen at one of Roaming Robots' events at Birmingham 2005 where it did a demo in the arena damaging computer monitors with its axe. A few years after its Robot Wars appearance, Marco Van Hek (builder of Cobra) purchased Tomahawk. In August 2012, he and a few other roboteers from Belgium and the Netherlands began restoring Tomahawk to fighting form, at which point it was renamed to TMHWK. It came out of retirement and competed in the 2012 Winter Tour held by Roaming Robots. TMHWK was then passed on to Marien van der Meer, and finally, Team Dutch Robot Girls, remaining active to this day. Esther Tissing and Annita van der Meer took TMHWK to Russia in 2017, to compete at Bronebots. A different team borrowed TMHWK to compete with it in Extreme Robots at Maidstone, the last robotic live event of 2017, where TMHWK's new axe head was broken in battle. In different fights, TMHWK was immobilised by a flip from Eruption, a flip from Iron-Awe 7, and a blow from the spinner of Tauron, but defeated Audacious and Expulsion by pitting the former, finishing in fourth place after being pitted by ThunderChild, having entered without a weapon. Team Dutch Robot Girls own a vast number of light robots between their members, and compete at Dutch events with them. Annita van der Meer has built various antweights and raptors, which weigh 6kg. Carla van den Broek has built at least one robot. Esther Tissing's first robot was a featherweight named Bad Blood, and has also built antweights called James and Little Miss Sunshine. Caroline van der Meer's robots are listed below. *EFWAH (Everything Fits With a Hammer) *Mini-Pizzabox - Antweight *Fuzzy Buzzy - Antweight *Maniac - Raptor *YES (You'll Eventually Smile) - Featherweight *Something - Raptor *AND (Another Now Diskbot) - Antweight Caroline van der Meer also built the very first Dutch featherweight, known as Pizzabox. This won the Mad Metal Machine 2 event, and even fought heavyweight Tough as Nails in an exhibition match. Team member Annita van der Meer was a judge for Bugglebots in 2018, alongside Kane Aston and Ian Botwright. Robot Wars Live Events The overhauled TMHWK made its first appearance in fighting at the Robot Wars live touring show at the Robot Wars World Championships 2015 at Colchester where it fought Behemoth, Eruption and Cherub in the first round of its heat. TMHWK quickly lost mobility to one wheel, and was rendered immobile. Behemoth and Cherub were both thrown out of the arena before Eruption threw TMHWK out, but regardless TMHWK was eliminated due to its lack of mobility. It also took part in a separate Annihilator competition at the event where it was immobilised very early on in the fight before being thrown out by Beast 2. Trivia *Tomahawk's statistics board in Series 7 misspelled the robot's name as Tomohawk. *Tomahawk was one of only two competitor robots in Series 7 to run on tracks, with the other being Trax. *The robot has the third-worst win/loss ratio in Robot Wars, with four losses and no wins, ahead of only Velocirippa (five losses) and Terror Turtle (seven losses). References External Links *Team Dutch Robot Girls Facebook page Category:Robots with Spiked Axes/Picks Category:Robots with Interchangeable Weapons Category:Dutch Robots Category:Robots with acronyms for names Category:UK Series competitors Category:Robots from Staffordshire Category:Tracked Robots Category:Robots with Bladed Axes Category:Robots which are still competing today Category:Victims of The Drop Zone Category:Competitors in Robot Wars Live Events Category:Robots that fought for multiple teams Category:Robots which debuted in Series 7 Category:Robots to compete in both eras of Robot Wars Category:Robots with multiple appearances without winning a battle Category:Robots with alternate versions Category:Dutch Representatives Category:Robots which have driven into the Pit Category:Tag Team Competitors